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GRAIN_OF_TIME

                                             October 13, 2004
                                        Rev: February 4, 2005

I click on the radio, and
hear the sound of a horn,
and the timbral qualities        Why?  Perhaps just
of it grab me.                   because it's familiar
                                 to me, it sounds like
Then after just a                other things that I've
moment, the slow,                liked recently.
interesting drum
beat (some sort of                            E.g. If it had
mambo/exotica)                                been the staccatto
resolves into focus.                          tones of a rap
                       I leave the            artist yammering I
                       station on.            would probably
After just a few                              tune out mentally.
seconds, I can hear
the melodic lines.                                 It takes a lot of
                                                   effort for me to be
   The horns are                                   able to hear rap.
   repeating some    (But it's a loose
   phrases--         sort of repetition,
                     not machine-perfect.)


The longer I listen, the
larger the patterns are     To hear rhythm takes
that I can perceive.        more context than
                            the timbre of a note.

  The repetition                 To hear melody
  creates a                      takes still more.
  structure, lays                                           Time scales.
  down patterns                                             Granularity.
  that make it
  possible to                                                 TIME_CONSTANTS
  perceive
  variations in
  the pattern.      The elements of
                    a vocabulary:
                    the language of      BRAND_ECLECTICS
                    music.


Too much repetition,
and it would seem
boring or annoying.       But different people
                          have widely varying          And just introspecting
                          perceptions of how           my own ear, sometimes
Too little repetition,    much would be too much.      I might like something
and many people would                                  that's very repetitive,
insist that it seems                                   other times not.
annoying or boring.
                                                          Many other elements
    But there are people                                  come into play:
    who actively avoid
    repetition in music.    IMP_PERVERSE                  What's done with
                                                          the repetition;
       They need very few                                 what tropes are
       hints to perceive                                  being accessed;
       patterns?                                          what similarity
                                                          you perceive to
       Or perhaps, they                                   other musics that
       carry the patterns                                 you take as
       with them, they've      EXPOSURE_TO_VACUUM         representative
       internalized them,                                 of your identity...
       and don't need to
       hear them again to     Which might be
       perceive the           another way of
       variations.            saying the same
                              thing.




A distinctly "black" voice
comes in, singing/chanting:
"the creator has a master plan,
peace and happiness for every man"      Lyrics need
                                        more context    MERCY
    I've certainly heard                than melody?
    this before...

            Reminiscent of
            Sun Ra on his
            less weird days.            And reputation, that
                                        takes still more...
            Ah, it's
            Pharoh Sanders.                            VORTEX


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